Dyson Sphere anyone?

[Admiral Bear]

I thought the article below taken from today's Daily Telegraph broadsheet in the UK might be of interest as it would seem to be the early stages of the Dyson Sphere as seen in TNG's Relics.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sciencea...ntists-plan-to-ignite-tiny-man-made-star.html

 

[Neopeius]

Doesn't seem like that to me. It looks like the first stages of a fusion reactor.

A Dyson's Sphere involves taking a natural fusion reactor and building an energy-collecting shell around it.

Still.. damned exciting stuff.

 

[Psion]

Perhaps Bear's speaking metaphorically ... that they're 'creating a star' within a spherical shell. In that sense it does look a bit like a model Dyson sphere. In a literal sense, you're absolutely right: you're supposed to build the structure around a star, probably using materials taken from the star's own system of planets.

 

[LunarYoma]

Perhaps Bear's speaking metaphorically ... that they're 'creating a star' within a spherical shell. In that sense it does look a bit like a model Dyson sphere. In a literal sense, you're absolutely right: you're supposed to build the structure around a star, probably using materials taken from the star's own system of planets.

there is no mention of dyson spheres in that article, only creating fusion with a laser

 

[msbae]

I sure hope their experiment is a success. Cheap electricity that doesn't rely on (possibly foreign) sources of fossil fuels sounds pretty darn good.

 

[Ronald Held]

Still waiting for commercial fusion plants, now for a few decades...

 

[Psion]

Perhaps Bear's speaking metaphorically ... that they're 'creating a star' within a spherical shell. In that sense it does look a bit like a model Dyson sphere. In a literal sense, you're absolutely right: you're supposed to build the structure around a star, probably using materials taken from the star's own system of planets.

there is no mention of dyson spheres in that article, only creating fusion with a laser

 

[Christopher]

Actually, aside from scale issues, this is more like the reverse of a Dyson Sphere. A DS (the actual kind proposed by Dyson as opposed to the common fictional misinterpretation) is a spherical cloud of solar collectors whose purpose is to capture and utilize all the energy produced by a star's fusion. This sphere is an array of lenses whose purpose is to create a fusion reaction.

 

[The Borg Queen]

Ooh... now this is exciting.

I hope it works, it could have the potential to revolutionise the future.

 

[GodThingFormerly]

Still waiting for commercial fusion plants, now for a few decades...

We already have a perfectly good fusion reactor located only eight light minutes away from the planet, the output of which can be more effectively harnessed with existing technologies ranging from Hermann Oberth's sodium-coated orbital reflectors (which Krafft Ehricke demonstrated could be employed to illuminate surface solar photovoltaic plants during the local night) to David Criswell's somewhat more complex Lunar Solar Power System (PPT). Controlled thermonuclear fusion will definitely play a key role in the (far) future manned exploration and colonization of the Outer Solar System, but it is entirely unnecessary for supplying utility power on Earth or Luna.

TGT

 

[spoonunseptium]

I don't think this would lead to a Dyson sphere. Atleast what I'm thinking of, it seems like waaayy too much. The idea of a full-scale Dyson sphere creeps me out, anyway.

As for having our own little baby sun, all I can think of is Spiderman 2.

 

[Christopher]

As for having our own little baby sun, all I can think of is Spiderman 2.

Which, as a depiction of fusion, made about as much scientific sense as the first movie's depiction of genetics, i.e. virtually none.

The downside of the difficulty of achieving a fusion reaction is that it makes it really tough to turn fusion into a practical energy source. The upside is that if anything goes wrong with a fusion reactor, then it won't be able to sustain the reaction and will just shut down rather than running away.

 

[Forbin]

^I've tried explaining that to any number of anti-nuke friends who still think fusion power = imminent nuclear armegeddon. It's no use.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

I'm amazed nobody has expressed worries that such incredible energy output could produce a black hole or something...

CuttingEdge100

 

[Christopher]

I'm amazed nobody has expressed worries that such incredible energy output could produce a black hole or something...

Which, of course, it couldn't. After all, we're talking about the same energy source that powers stars, so if it could create microscopic black holes, then every star in the universe would've been eaten from within by black holes long ago. Simple logic.

 

[Silvercrest]

As for having our own little baby sun, all I can think of is Spiderman 2.

Which, as a depiction of fusion, made about as much scientific sense as the first movie's depiction of genetics, i.e. virtually none.

The downside of the difficulty of achieving a fusion reaction is that it makes it really tough to turn fusion into a practical energy source. The upside is that if anything goes wrong with a fusion reactor, then it won't be able to sustain the reaction and will just shut down rather than running away.

Or you can just dump it in the river.

 

[Meredith]

^I've tried explaining that to any number of anti-nuke friends who still think fusion power = imminent nuclear armegeddon. It's no use.

Thank Hollywood and girls holding flowers in fields getting nuked for that one.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

Christopher,

I know that...

 

[USS Triumphant]

I don't think this would lead to a Dyson sphere.

Well, fine, but the more important question to me is, would it help his grandson make a better vaccum cleaner?

 

[Silversmok3]

Its times like these that I hate hollywood.

A fusion reactor is a much safer alternative to the fission reactors we use currently,as they won't generate waste that'll outlive our current society.

If you think about it,had King Tut buried his fission reactor waste we still couldn't handle some of it today.5000 years later.

And a current fusion reactor really has little in common with a Dyson sphere,as interpreted in ST.